Astros’ Lance McCullers Jr. Ruled Out For Opening Day Due to Right Elbow Strain
When the Houston Astros hit the field for Opening Day next month, marking the beginning of their 2022 World Series title defence, they’ll be without right-hander Lance McCullers Jr., who recently suffered an elbow strain.
McCullers, entering the second season of a five-year, $85-million contract, was supposed to anchor a starting rotation that said goodbye to Justin Verlander – who signed a lucrative deal in free agency with the New York Mets – over the off-season. Instead, he’ll begin 2023 on the injured list.
The 29-year-old revealed his latest injury blow to reporters Wednesday afternoon, confirming he won’t throw for a few weeks. He did provide encouraging news, though, saying an MRI showed no structural damage to his UCL.
McCullers’s seven seasons with the Astros have been littered with injuries: he missed the entire 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery and the first four months of last season after suffering a forearm strain, limiting him to just 47.2 innings over eight starts.
Now, after tossing 25 pitches during a bullpen session on Feb. 14, the 6-foot-1 righty must wait for the soreness in his elbow to subside before resuming his throwing program. Unfortunately, that means he’ll have to endure yet another rehab stint in the coming weeks.
“I had a great offseason and was excited for the year,” McCullers said. “I felt like I was in an amazing spot physically and got to camp early. I threw a bullpen here last Tuesday and unfortunately, after that bullpen — nothing during the bullpen raised any red flags — but after the bullpen and into the evening and into the next day, I had some elbow soreness.”
“I’ve been a little bit upset. I was really looking forward to a great start to the camp and [a] great start to the season. Any time this happens, it’s very frustrating for me and the team and the fanbase. I just wanted to have a great year and get off to a great start and unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
After encountering a similar situation in 2022, McCullers isn’t overly pleased about operating from behind the eight ball for a second consecutive year, and understandably so. That process can become gruelling at times, both mentally and physically.
While the veteran righty won’t be a part of Houston’s Opening Day roster, he hopes to make a larger contribution this time, aiming to build off last season’s 2.27 ERA, 3.49 FIP and 14.4 percent strikeout-to-walk rate difference.
“It’s been a tough couple of days just having to come to the reality that I’m not going to be a part of the team to open the season and I’m going to have to undergo another rehab,” McCullers said. “When the one thing that you’re great at and you’re not able to do because the vessel you do it through — my body — sometimes won’t let me, I think that’s very tough to process and sometimes can feel like you’re on a little bit of a hamster wheel at times. Overall, everything is good and the MRI makes me feel very confident.”
Without McCullers, Hunter Brown – who recorded a 0.89 ERA and 1.98 FIP over 20.1 innings in seven appearances last season – is likely to round out the club’s starting rotation, joining All-Star Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, José Urquidy and Luis Garcia.
Together, that talented group will attempt to lead the Astros through an improved AL West Division, which saw the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners all make notable off-season additions.
Given McCullers’ lengthy injury history, the team intends to be extra cautious with its impact hurler once he’s cleared to return. Assuming he avoids setbacks, hitting the 150-160 innings mark – a feat he’s reached once (2021) in his career – could still be an attainable goal.
“The smartest thing would be [to] go at a small pace and come back and still be ready to throw a majority of a full season,” McCullers said. “I still hope to hit that 150, 160 innings mark, versus rushing it and coming back and risking re-injury or risking not being able to be an effective part of the team.”
The Astros drafted McCullers out of high school 41st overall in 2012 and watched him make his major-league debut three years later, where he earned a 3.22 ERA and 2.5 fWAR across 125.2 innings. Though his availability has been limited since then, he was a member of Houston’s 2017 and 2022 World Series championship rosters.
Overall, the high-strikeout starter has logged 718.2 career innings, posting a 3.48 ERA, 3.35 FIP and a 16.7 percent K-BB rate difference while being worth a combined 14.9 fWAR.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: KA Sports Photos. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.